Customized radio systems can provide information on radio stations based on radio program format, but these systems require special equipment (e.g., European Patent Application No. EP0964514, UK Patent Application No. GB2373655, U.S. Pat. No. 6,992,619, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0198282, among others). For example, a common aspect of these customized radio systems is the need for special radio receivers that operate with positioning devices, such as GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers, which provide real-time positioning information of the radio receivers. These customized radio systems also need sufficient computing power to select radio stations according to combinations of location, radio signal strength, user preferences, etc. In other words, these customized radio systems are often unacceptable or unavailable to typical automobile travelers due to the expense and/or need to acquire such specialized equipment.
When travelers listen to the radio while driving long-distances in their automobiles, they must typically manually tune the radio to receive new stations as they drive in and out of radio station transmitter ranges along a travel route. Perhaps even more frustrating for travelers is trying to find new radio stations along the travel route that broadcast radio program formats that the travelers prefer, such as rock music, talk-sports, talk-news, etc. While on-line services, which generate maps and determine travel routes based on specified starting and ending location information (e.g., MapQuest, Rand McNally, Yahoo!, etc.), are available to help travelers plan travel routes, these services do not currently enable travelers to determine which radio stations along a determined travel route broadcast radio program formats that the travelers prefer.